Like most
Sex And The City fans I was brimming with excitement to once again see the faces of
Carrie Bradshaw,
Samantha Jones,
Miranda Hobbes, and
Charlotte York, and watch the old girls dressed up in their $10M movie wardrobe budget finery. I couldnt wait for the main eye candy, aka
THE CLOTHES, but forty minutes into SATC's 2 hours and 27 minutes 'romp' I started to get seat bum fatigue, thanks in part to an unsatisfying silk-thin plot which turns the
Fabulous Four of glamorous
New York City into a bunch of ungrateful complainers on their way to visit Lawrence of Arabia...
But let's get back to
The Clothes! After all SATC is also known as Fashion And The City, and on the whole it did not disappoint.
Miranda in particular looked the best she's ever looked: hair and makeup were flawless (except for the scary perm she sported in the karaoke scene), and save for a few disastrous clothing picks (as soon as Miranda landed in Abu Dhabi her wardrobe went south), I loved her all-white skirt/jacket/fedora 'Out of Africa' ensemble for an Abu Dhabi tour of the souk, and the gorgeous studded black dress she wore to Stanford & Anthony's swan-filled wedding. As for
Carrie, I loved the J'Adore Dior vintage shirt and purple Zac Posen tafetta ball skirt look for her Souk jaunt with Miranda, and I LOVED all the
Halston Heritage dresses she gracefully paraded throughout,
especially the
blue sparkly number (and Carrie dares to whine that she and John James Preston aka Big lost their 'sparkle'...)
I'm sure Carrie's heels were equally gaze-worthy but all I can remember is more
Louboutins than
Manolos! Samantha's red Karaoke dress with 'poke someone's eyes out' shoulder armor by
The Blonds was a Samantha Jones standout, as was Charlotte's red and white striped traveling suit. There were also some fabulous hats, and necklaces, and handbags, and bracelets galore, but possibly the worst look of the movie belonged to all the ladies when they changed into some really obscene 'camel riding' attire for a desert romp, looking more like the opening act for a Vegas circus show...
While the first
Sex And The City film brought a happy, if bumpy, ending to Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte's years of singleton suffering which we all identified, laughed, and cried with, the second installment gives each of the characters a seemingly artificial reason to whine and complain,
and make a mockery of SATC's loyal fans in the meantime. Why oh why didn't they make those 1980's flashback scenes longer?? Starting with Samantha's menopause, Miranda's frustrations with a chauvinistic boss, Charlotte's motherhood and perky nanny woes, and Carrie's lackluster relationship with Big (which by the way bored me to tears), none of those concerns felt convincing enough to take us out of the New York City we know and love.
As soon as the Fabulous Four touch down in Abu Dhabi (Morocco was actually the stand-in thanks to a no sex in their city filming ban by the UAE) all hell breaks loose. Sure, the all-expenses paid palatial hotel suite with personal butlers was eye-poppingly luxurious, as well as the chauffeur-driven sedans which conveniently trekked each of the gals through the desert, plus there was that powerful scene in the hotel suite bar between an emotional Miranda and Charlotte, but I could practically feel myself cringing as soon as Samantha (stealing scenes right and left) opened her Westernly mouth and suitcase, filled with a week's worth of revealing outfits better suited for a jaunt to Palm Beach. Throw in a very un-nostalgic appearance by Aidan, a handsome cocky Danish architect, an inevitable arrest, a horrifying display of souk brazenness, and I couldn't help but wish for an
Aleksandr Petrovsky mirage...
xoRedPoppy
Photos courtesy of
dailymail.co.uk,
usmagazine.com
The Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards (CFDA's) took place on Monday night in New York City where designers, celebrities, models, and fashion muses milled about under one fashionably laid back roof to celebrate the talented winners: Marc Jacobs received the coveted Womenswear Designer of the Year award, Marcus Wainwright and David Neville of Rag & Bone won Menswear Designer of the Year, and Alexis Bittar took home Accessory Designer of the Year. And finally, the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Michael Kors for 29 golden years in the fashion industry. And now for the Fashion!! A lot of neutrals, a LOT of black, and a sprinkling of patterns:
Marc Jacobs and Jessica Biel (whose Diane von Furstenberg dress is better suited....for some place else...)
Sarah Jessica Parker in Alexander McQueen
Michael Kors and Gwyneth Paltrow, looking gorgeous in the designer's custom gown
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, with model Sasha Pivovarova, looking cropped and frumpy in their label 'The Row'
Iman and David Bowie
Fracisco Costa of Calvin Klein with a gorgeous Lara Stone (shiny black is clearly a hit of the evening!)
Irina Lazareanu in 3.1 Phillip Lim
CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg (I'm not liking her dress) and Carolina Herrera (I am loving her favorite crisp uniform)
Jessica Biel in Diane von Furstenberg, with Jason Wu and Rachel Weisz looking beautiful in Wu's design
Model Constance Jablonski
Donna Karan
Alexis Bledel in Benhaz Serafpour (love this simple frock!) with the designer 
Zac Posen
